NFL 'Not Serious' About L.A., Says County Supervisor

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who has long advocated for the National Football League to return to the city, warned Wednesday that the NFL is “not serious” about expanding or relocating to the area.

“They’re having a good time feigning seriousness. The only thing that they’re doing is stoking their brand and having a whole lot of people who are financially endowed pursue them,” he told a gathering of local civic leaders, according to the Downtown News. Previously, there had been speculation that a revamped L.A. Convention Center would include a football stadium, but those plans appear to have faltered for the moment.

While confident that a football team would “rock the house” for L.A. economically, Ridley-Thomas warned that the NFL seemed “not to be in any big hurry unless they have a level of confidence about the promise of what can happen in L.A. and how they can benefit from it.”

Football fans in L.A. will have to content themselves with college football, the L.A. Kiss of the Arena Football League in Anaheim, or the L.A. Temptation of the Lingerie Football League, whose season and home opener is this Saturday night at Citizens Business Bank in Ontario.